“Hide well.” Chu Jun controlled the body and moved forward to block Ning Fan, leaving instructions for Jiang Yizheng and Yang Lingzhu to find a safe hiding place.
Jiang Yizheng swiftly pulled Yang Lingzhu to hide, and then realized they were positioned directly across from Yan Jinzhou’s ice coffin.
Outside, swords danced and various spiritual powers flew wildly, occasionally causing the ground to shake. Stones began falling from the tomb’s ceiling. Jiang Yizheng held Yang Lingzhu in her arms, nervously watching the battle unfolding outside.
The Venerable had transformed into the appearance of her father and was fighting against the damned Ning Fan.
Zen Master Mingsang was chanting incomprehensible scriptures. Those scriptures, like tangible beings, wriggled and crawled onto the ice coffin, which began to vibrate slightly.
Elder Shen Xi from the Wushi Sect, along with a group of people, was attempting to break the formation surrounding the ice coffin.
Two unrecognized individuals were confronting each other in front of the ice coffin, seeming on the verge of fighting. The one facing her looked somewhat frightening, holding the Suzaku narrow knife… Huh? The Suzaku narrow knife!?
The knife-wielder looked plain and ordinary, worlds apart from her handsome and elegant father. However, through his sinister and arrogant eyes, Jiang Yizheng was certain this person was Ning Buwei.
She felt momentarily confused, unable to distinguish who was who, and unsure of what the Venerable and her father were trying to do. But she remembered the person holding the Suzaku narrow knife was her biological father, and she huddled nervously in the corner.
Her father seemed very angry. Countless black mists began to spread behind him, with numerous blood-red eyes flickering in and out of view. Horrifying screams echoed through the tomb, creating a chilling atmosphere.
The person facing her father seemed to be laughing, saying something that made her father’s expression suddenly turn extremely ugly.
Oh, those scriptures had silently spread to her father’s feet. Shen Xi flew over and stabbed a sword toward her father’s back—
“Father!” Jiang Yizheng suddenly lunged forward.
Ning Buwei heard this sound and abruptly turned back. The sword and Jiang Yizheng almost simultaneously approached him. In an instant, a similar scene flashed in his mind, making him feel as if he had fallen into an ice cavern.
He used nearly the fastest reaction of his life, grabbing Jiang Yizheng and pulling her into his embrace. Shen Xi’s sword precisely struck his shoulder. He quickly smashed Shen Xi’s sword with the knife and simultaneously kicked Yan Jinzhou’s ice coffin backward before flying to land beside the coffin.
Jiang Yizheng looked at the blood on Ning Buwei’s shoulder, her face turning pale. Her lips trembled continuously. “Father… Father…”
“Are you trying to get yourself killed!” Ning Buwei’s face turned black, his eyes blazing with anger. He raised his hand, about to slap her face.
Jiang Yizheng trembled in fear. She even heard the wind from her father’s approaching slap but was surprised when the expected pain didn’t come.
She carefully opened her eyes and saw her father’s hand suspended in mid-air, which then clenched into a fist and pointed at her.
“Stay put!” Ning Buwei slapped a few talismans onto her body before flying away.
Jiang Yizheng looked at her father’s still-bleeding wound and guiltily lowered her head, struggling to hold back her tears.
The entire tomb chamber was in chaos. She couldn’t distinguish who was fighting whom. She cautiously pressed against the ice coffin. The golden scriptures on it had faded somewhat but hadn’t completely disappeared. The coffin continued to vibrate, as if the person inside might emerge at any moment.
Jiang Yizheng clasped her hands together, whispering, “You’re my father’s master, so I’ll boldly call you my ancestral master. Ancestral master, please bless my father to win this fight… It would be best if you could directly blast everyone away…”
She mumbled and nervously watched her father’s battle, completely unaware of the increasing cracks forming on the ice coffin beside her.
“You’ve grown quite a bit, Chengfeng,” Pei Heguang’s gaze fell on Ning Buwei’s shoulder wound, his expression slightly displeased. “Yet you still can’t shake off your tendency to be soft-hearted.”
Ning Buwei gripped the Suzaku narrow knife tightly, asking in a low voice, “What exactly do you want?”
Pei Heguang smiled slightly, “Since you’ve already seen Yan Jinzhou’s memories, you should know that I’ve only ever wanted to do one thing.”
There was a barely perceptible hint of mockery in his tone, as if self-deprecating, yet his eyes carried a compassionate look that made Ning Buwei furrow his brow. Before he could think deeply, Pei Heguang transformed into countless fine fragments of light.
“If you want to know the truth, come home and find me,” his familiar voice lingered in Ning Buwei’s ears long after he disappeared.
Ning Buwei did not give chase. Numerous thoughts flashed through his mind, but they passed quickly without leaving any impression. He sent a message to Chu Jun’s sea of consciousness. “Don’t pursue him. Go back and watch over Ning Xiu.”
Chu Jun detected the abnormality in his voice but had no time to inquire. His true form hidden among the crowd instantly vanished.
Almost the moment Chu Jun disappeared, a tremendous explosion erupted outside, causing the entire tomb chamber to violently shake.
Ning Buwei’s movements paused. He called out in his sea of consciousness, “Chu Jun?”
No response.
He then looked at the opposite body, only to find it had also disappeared in the instant of the explosion.
Ning Buwei’s expression changed dramatically. His instinct told him something had happened to the flying ship. He was about to leave when Ning Fan blocked his path.
“Ning Chengfeng, you’ve gone to such lengths to lure someone out. Not bad,” Ning Fan sneered, his smile not reaching his eyes. “Pity you overlooked your own son. He’s probably been blasted back to his original form by now, right?”
“Trying to provoke me won’t work,” Ning Buwei twisted his mouth, “Now that I know who he is, keeping you around serves no purpose.”
Ning Buwei’s gaze darkened, his eyes suddenly turning blood-red. The Suzaku narrow knife flew out, and hundreds of long-dormant formations suddenly materialized, tightly enclosing Ning Fan.
Countless blood lines spread from Ning Buwei’s hand, connecting to the formations. He stared at Ning Fan, his tone mockingly, “Guess why he didn’t take you away?”
Ning Fan’s expression changed dramatically. He gritted his teeth, “Just you, a Golden Core stage cultivator, think you can kill me!?”
Ning Buwei scoffed, “Killing trash like you is more than enough at Golden Core stage!”
As soon as the words fell, the blood lines suddenly tightened, transforming into countless blood arrows shooting toward Ning Fan.
“Mere tricks!” Ning Fan roared, the two iron hooks in his hands suddenly expanding. An invisible barrier blocked all the blood arrows. “You must have forgotten the power of these hooks!”
Ning Buwei’s hands formed seals, and numerous formations, along with the blood arrows, pressed down on Ning Fan from all directions. He spoke coldly, “I naturally remember.”
Ning Fan gritted his teeth, resisting the increasingly numerous formations. When black mist began to appear beneath his feet, along with vaguely visible white bones, a flash of panic crossed his face. “What is this thing!?”
Controlling hundreds of formations using oneself as a medium was not an easy task, let alone adding the Soul-Devouring Formation and the Hundred Bones Thousand Ghosts Formation. Ning Buwei heard his own bones being crushed by the backlash, but his expression remained unchanged. He even had the spare thought: fortunately, Chu Jun wasn’t here to interrupt him.
“Take a good look at what it is,” Ning Buwei gave a twisted smile, walking step by step toward Ning Fan. The blood color around him grew more intense, with white bones and black mist intertwining, trying to pull him down. However, he remained completely unaffected, stopping only when he reached Ning Fan.
Countless drops of blood trickled down from his hand, dripping steadily. He looked down at Ning Fan, who was pressed to the ground by countless formations, watching as the black mist and white bones tore the flesh from Ning Fan’s body.
“Do these skeletons look familiar?” he leaned slightly, his smile sinister and distorted. “You plotted against my parents, collaborated with the Yan family to harm three thousand nine hundred and forty-one people in Chen City. So I will kill you, Ning Fan, here and every scattered branch of the Ning family.”
Ning Fan looked up in disbelief, staring at him, “Impossible! Impossible! I clearly—”
“You clearly removed your branch from the clan registry and extinguished their soul lanterns, moved them away, so they’re no longer considered part of the Ning family, right?” Ning Buwei’s smile grew wider. “So when the entire Ning family was destroyed, it didn’t involve this branch, correct?”
“But the family crest on Ning family members never disappears. Especially the family crest of this branch of the Ning family – I remember it particularly clearly. Even if all the Ning family members are dead, how could I let this branch be an exception? You never appeared, never came looking for them, so I found them for you.
I thought you had died long ago, so I mercifully sent them to meet you. But then I thought it wasn’t satisfying enough, so I trapped their bodies and souls in this formation to use as I pleased. When I’m finally satisfied, I’ll let their souls disperse and escape their suffering.
I just couldn’t use the formation on the Discussion Mountain last time to let you properly meet them.”
“Why are you doing this! How dare you!!!” Ning Fan glared at him furiously, desperately trying to break free from the formation’s constraints. “Everything was done by me! If you have the ability, come at me!”
Ning Buwei sighed somewhat regretfully, using his blood-covered hand to grip Ning Fan’s chin. His voice was surprisingly calm, “What did my parents do wrong? What did those innocent people of Chen City do wrong?”
Ning Fan’s eyes were bloodshot. Looking at the surrounding white bones wailing in pain, two lines of blood tears flowed down his cheeks. “Release them. You’ve tortured them for so many years. Release them… and I’ll tell you everything!”
Ning Buwei crouched in front of him. “Tell me what?”
“Why they were killed! Why Chen City was destroyed! Why the entire Ning clan was exterminated! Why you were forced to cultivate the Heartless Dao! I’ll tell you everything!” Ning Fan gritted his teeth. “Just release them!”
“Hypocritical,” Ning Buwei let out a light sneer. “Will telling me bring these dead people back to life?”
“Ning Chengfeng!” Ning Fan roared, “If you don’t release them, I’ll make your master Yan Jinzhou’s remains vanish completely! I’ll make her soul scatter and never be reborn!”
“Try it,” Ning Buwei’s smile became even more brilliant. With a wave of his sleeve, a water mirror nearly half a person’s height appeared before Ning Fan, filled with endless miserable cries and pleas. Ning Fan’s eyes widened instantly.
